Organizing small things, specifically small things you regularly need at your fingertips, can be frustrating. Most of the pre-made organizing products for small things aren’t very attractive and/or are made exclusively for drawers.

While searching for a way to organize my son’s bath supplies, I came across an attractive organizing system that is made specifically for small things that sit out on a counter or hang on the wall. The Stash by Boon:

It’s available in white and black, and perfect for the lotions, shampoo, body wash, nail file, and dozens of other little things my son needs that I don’t use. It can easily be repurposed in the future to hold craft and office supplies or tiny toy parts if we ever move into a house with built-in bathroom storage.

32 Comments for “The Stash for organizing the small stuff”

I love this! I just wish they were a little more attractive. I still haven’t figured out how it’s best to keep my floss picks, hair ties, q-tips, cotton, etc., more accessible and organized in the bathroom.

I like the idea…i just keep looking at it and thinking this can also look like counter/desk clutter. Now what I have thought about was strongly convincing the significant other to create more kitchen drawer storage (large drawers, like the plate drawers) and then designating one of the drawers for kids items using these things to keep them organized.

When I was a kid, my mom had me make a crafty version of this as a gift for my grampa: three Campbell’s soup cans in a back row with three shorter mushroom cans in the front row, nailed through the bottom to a piece of wood. We covered the cans with dark blue corduroy and iron-ons. He had this little organizer forever!

Scrap PVC pipe (can be had for the asking at many construction sites and even some plumbing or home improvement stores), and a miter saw (electric or hand), a scrap of sandpaper to smooth the edges, and a few nuts and bolts or some glue to attached these things to each other, and you can make your own for next to nothing. I’ll likely end up making one of these with stuff I’ve got around the house (I use PVC pipe for cold-process soap molds, so I have several different diameters), but I’ll likely spray paint the tubes different colors just because I’ve also got several different colors of spray paint.

We actually use old jam jars for this stuff, and it’s very effective and even better, totally free. Rearrange at will and place out of reach of the 4-year-old (not that that wouldn’t have to happen anyway–I know what my kid would do if he could reach the baby Tylenol, glug glug glug).

Not a fan, I never liked the office version. It was hard to reach into and I could never stop thinking about the dust it gathered. For a child, I would be too stressed about having to pick up and/or retrieve the million little things. They get mobile and curious much faster than we think they will.

I pretty much like tools and supplies put away for retrieval and replacement as needed. It’s my little hangup and I totally own it.

@knitwych — The amount of effort to do what you just described is totally worth $25 to me. My time (easily a 3 hour project from start to finish), the gasoline to drive to the home improvement store, the cost of all the materials, the energy exerted using the hacksaw, the frustration of getting all the angels and heights right … honestly, $25 is dirt cheap in comparison. Well, at least in my opinion.

I sort of like it, actually. There’s plastic spray paint that could be used to give it a little character.

IF you’ve already got the scraps, the tools, the abilities and the time to put one of these together, then that’s great. Some people, maybe a lot of people, don’t have one or more of the necessary components.

I might get this for items that would stand up and be easily grasped without having to dig down into the holders, no paper clips or that type of thing. Or round things, if that’s a ball in the top pic, it would be really difficult to get out.

For a quick solution that will be able to be repurposed over time, I’d buy one.

Why? If this is a concern over plastics – there shouldn’t be. PVC pipe is what is used for main water lines as well as sewage lines in houses and other buildings. Older construction used copper and steel pipes, but new construction uses PVC. So, if you are drinking out of it, it is safe to store a few baby-care items in.

As far as this goes – how about a drawer? Or just a little box to store little stuff in? Not everything needs it’s own compartment little compartment – smaller items may but larger items thrown in a box should be perfectly accessible.

Posted by Celeste:
“Not a fan, I never liked the office version. It was hard to reach into and I could never stop thinking about the dust it gathered. For a child, I would be too stressed about having to pick up and/or retrieve the million little things. They get mobile and curious much faster than we think they will.

I pretty much like tools and supplies put away for retrieval and replacement as needed. It’s my little hangup and I totally own it.”

I totally agree. Countertop, table, desktop or any type of clutter on flat surfaces annoys me. I’d rather take an extra few seconds to reach into a well organized drawer than to look at this kind of stuff laying around all day.

I also find it amusing that sometimes people perceive these types of things attractive because they’re white, black, or clear acrylic and presented as being “organizational tools” rather than “cheap, tacky plastic” like the butterslicers, which were recently mocked on Unitasker Wednesday.

I think it’s cute, and I like to put small things in their own compartments. This would have been useful in a previous home where our bathrooms had no drawers. We had bins under the sink, but small things were always getting lost in the bins.

Agree with the counter top clutter. I would rather have a nice organizer for a drawer for the small stuff. Looks cheap and junky to me. The glass mason jars as mentioned above would look nicer if you have no drawers.

That’s a small one – 12 drawers, about 10 x 10 inches; small enough to go on the countertop. Store small bathroom items, makeup accessories, craft items, jewelry, etc
Larger sizes available if you desire.

I think this is a cool idea, but like other commenters said, only if you store the whole thing in a closed space. Otherwise you’d have to take all the little things out all the time to clean the dust out of the inside.

i hate this. it would drive me crazy and looks messy. i use plastic pencil boxes for school supplies/office stuff. and open baskets for baby bottles/sippy cups stored in the bottom kitchen cabinets. i can’t stand things sitting out like this.

We thought it worked very well, and was portable, making it easy to grab it and bring it to the floor for bath time, then put everything back up on the shelf when done. Small stuff goes in the drawer, and the two open compartments were roomy enough for the big baby wash bottle, and a rolled towel.

@Erin, to each her own, I guess. For someone who has the tools and materials (which I do) and who would enjoy making something like that (as I would), it seems silly to pay $25 plus postage for such a product.

I bought two of these from Amazon. They were much larger than I thought they’d be and Amazon didn’t list the dimensions. I returned them then tried to find something similar at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I came home with two muffin pans and they work perfectly for my two junk drawers (one on each floor of the house). They’re perfect for safety pins, change, paper clips, rubber bands, etc.

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